8 comments:

Anonymous
said...

“Wake up to a sunny day… face to face with my trouble … when you’re broken … little girl don’t be so blue … getting scars … only makes you who you are….”

Fitting, isn’t it? Glad you caught her tune and felt some kindred to it. You might also want to listen to Celine Dion’s “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and “Falling into You” when you revise "Symbiosis". Will give you a much needed boost of energy. Don’t ask why. Just that it does.

Changing the novel ending? (Not the ending of the book -- someday when published, it’ll become a book.) Sounds like an extreme makeover home edition. Well, if you’re creative enough and bust a gut, then you will evolve. I can understand that you might not want to cut 100+ pages; but the ending makeover, if significant enough, might carry the entire novel through. It won’t change everything, will it, the first 450+ pages? Unless the reason to keep the protagonist alive in the end has been premeditated in the early going, predicated by her characterization. We talk about significant effects, if she lives. But don’t limit yourself to just the ending. You said you’re proud of your novel because it’s based on characters. Not that it’s full of characters (like "War and Peace"), but full of lively characters. Good. Then make the change of the ending an inevitable climax of your characterization. Not that the death of the protagonist is bad (though American readers love happy ending) –- sometimes it has more meaningful impact than a happy ending -– but to give the protagonist a chance to live must also justify the author’s decision. And it’d better be a darn good reason.

LOL. When Gabriel Garcia Marquez was at work on one of his novels (wasn't sure which -- "One Hundred Years of Solitude" or "Love in the Time of Cholera"), he was taking a shower one morning and an idea hit him. He ran to his Apple Mac, his body still full of suds, sat down and typed. He said many creative ideas hit him during his taking shower –- and he tend to take a long shower –- so at one point he ordered a bigger water heater (in Mexico you had something like that) to save him from ending up taking a cold shower, thanks to creative ideas.

Dear Anonymous,I assume you didn't do much back reading when you found my blog. I have actually already taken 200+ pages off by combining the first book and sequel and taking a good hard look at every words, scene, and chapter I wrote.I really appreciate your advice--I do--but the huge overhaul you keep hinting that I need has already happened . . . or, at least, I'm am finishing it up.:)Just wasn't sure if you realized.

No, I didn't. I saw in your blog some of the New York-based agents I recognized -- one of them I met and had lunch with -- so I read with interest and very enjoyed the zest in your blog, the writer's enthusiasm that made me smile. Still, any first novel over 145,000 words will scare a prospective agent and will do the same to an acquisition editor. I'm sure you know why. But if you feel very convinced that your novel cannot be cut anymore, then take a stand and defend it when asked by an agent to cut a huge chunk off it before she/he would even consider taking it on. It's your call. Agents know what sells. But the final call is yours. Sometimes a writer is still too close to her materials, it's just too painful for her to let go what she values in her manuscript. One true fact, though: Novels tend to sag around the middle part, and thick novels sag more than just in the middle. This is why I like Samuel Johnson so much when he said, "Read over your compositions, and when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out."

I could be wrong in your case, because I haven't read your story. But I'd surely cheer for you like a mad man when good news comes -- for you, of course!

I am a #1 New York Times Best-Selling author of young adult fiction. My husband and I have four children and live in Glendale, Arizona. Further information, including a calendar of events, is available at my official website.